Wednesday, 2 December 2015

Royal Hotel, 189 Derby Street

Number 189 Derby Street, the former Royal Hotel pictured in August 2015 (copyright Google Street View), situated in between the ginnel and the entrance to Sass Beauty.

The Royal Hotel was
relatively short-lived pub which ran from the early-1850s until the
early-1870s.

The first record we have
is when Edward Wroe applies for a full licence for the pub, which was situated at
189 Derby Street, just a few doors up from the Albert Hotel.

Edward Wroe was at the
Wheatsheaf on Blackburn Street (now Deane Road) in 1851, but by 1854 he was at
the Royal Hotel. At the annual licensing sessions in August of that year he
applied for a full licence to serve wine and spirits alongside beer.
There were no fewer than 22 other such applications, seven of which were for
pubs either on Derby Street or nearby. The magistrates received a petition of
some 3000 signatures opposing the granting of any further licences and the
chairman of the bench, Robert Walsh, a staunch teetotaller who was strongly
opposed to the sale of alcohol, calculated that there was one pub for every 106
people in Bolton. “One for every thousand would do,” he insisted. All 23
applications failed. [1]

By 1869 the Royal Hotel
was in trouble. On 31 March that year the following advertisement appeared in
the Bolton Evening News:

“To Let, that
Well-Accustomed BEERHOUSE and BREWERY, known as the Royal Hotel, Derby Street.
Fixtures, Brewing Utensils, etc, to be taken at a valuation. Apply to Wm
Horrocks on the premises.”

William Horrocks had
placed a similar advert a couple of months earlier on 28 January in which he referred to a
“change in occupation”. He was soon able to take up his new job as Abraham
Ogden, a 25-year-old turner from Thynne Street answered the ad and took over the pub. We know this because by August of
that year he was up before the court accused of selling beer outside licensing
hours. Opening times were quite liberal at that time, but the police were
always on the lookout for licensees opening illegally on a Sunday morning. Mr
Ogden was caught and was fined 10 shillings plus costs. [2]

This was bad news
especially as, like all Bolton’s beerhouses, the Royal had to re-apply for its
licence the following month. The magistrates were looking for any excuse to
close pubs and in the case of the Royal they had the police on their side.
Constables Dearden and Greenhalgh were the bane of pub landlords in Bolton. It was this
duo who frequented pubs – often on a Sunday morning- and together they brought
numerous landlords to court, including poor Abraham Ogden who had only been
at the Royal for a matter of months.

When the Royal’s
application was heard, Constable Dearden described the pub as “objectionable”
and complained about the low walls to the rear. Low walls enabled easy access,
especially on a Sunday morning. He also claimed to have seen cards being played
in the tap-room on at least two occasions. Card games
were usually played for money. Constable Greenhalgh weighed in by saying the
house was “troublesome”. That was it. The Royal’s fate was sealed and the pub
closed down later that year. [3]

By 1876, the Royal was a
tripe shop. By 1905 it was the premises of a clogger, Albert Rooney. By 1924,
Mr Rooney was sharing number 187 Derby Street while 189 was owned by a rubber
dealer, Miss Emma Brooks. By the seventies, numbers 187 and 189 were occupied
by Lindley’s Removals and in the eighties the whole of that property became the Bantry Club.
It is currently a cosmetic laser clinic.